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Tuesday, October 4, 2011

While I really don't disagree with Patterson, this is really PR Fail. I think he's right, but in this he just comes off as a whiny bitch who just lost to a team he usually beats the crap out of.

I do find it interesting that his anger at the officiating and June Jones seemed to be largely for the same reasons I posted right after the game. Still doesn't help that we should have beaten the phonies regardless, but these are the exact things you can't complain about in public.

It would be nice if we had something tangible proving that CUSA had called to apologize, but I really don't see that happening. No way are they going to publicly admit anything close to fixing a game... even if it was just mistakes.

Still, this makes us look bad because people aren't going to see this as anything more than an arrogant Mack Brown post game whine fest, regardless of whether he's right or not.

When the Frogs arrive in San Diego on Friday, they will not be in unfamiliar territory. In fact, Qualcomm Stadium has been a very hospitable locale for TCU over the years- Gary Patterson's teams are 5-0 in the stadium since 2005. Here's a look back at the games played there:

October 29, 2005: TCU 23, San Diego State 20-Two Jeff Ballard interceptions and a Cory Rodgers fumble stalled the progress of the Horned Frog offense in the first half and led to the Aztecs leading 13-7 at the break. Robert Merrill, who ran for 170 yards for the game, tied it at 13-13 with a 21-yard touchdown run in the third quarter before Chris Manfredini's extra point attempt was blocked. Rodgers added a 6-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter to make it 23-13. SDSU's Kevin O'Connell led the Aztecs on an 8-play, 65-yard scoring drive in just 1:30 to pull within 3 with just over 2:00 remaining, but the Frogs recovered the onside kick and Merrill gained the game-sealing first down on a 4th & 1.

December 19, 2006: TCU 37, Northern Illinois 7-In one of the least attractive bowl match ups on record, the 10-2 Frogs showed the nation why they deserved better than playing a MAC team in the Poinsettia Bowl. NIU's Garrett Wolfe, who came into the game as the nation's leading rusher, managed just 28 yards on 20 carries and the Huskies totaled -20 yards on the ground for the game. And if it weren't for a 62-yard completion in the 2nd quarter, NIU would've ended the game with less than zero total offensive yards. Lonta Hobbs rushed for 109 yards and a touchdown and Jeff Ballard added three rushing scores as the Frogs jumped out to a 30-0 lead before the Huskies scored their only points of the game on a blocked punt.

November 24, 2007: TCU 45, San Diego State 33-In a nightmare opening, two TCU fumbles led to two quick SDSU touchdowns and the Aztecs led at the end of the first quarter, 17-0. Touchdown runs by Ryan Christian, Andy Dalton and Joseph Turner brought the Frogs back to take a 21-17 in the second quarter, but O'Connell got the Aztecs back in the endzone just before halftime to take a 24-21 lead into the locker room. It was all Turner in the second half as he scored from 9, 14 and 41 yards out on his way to a 226-yard game and the Frogs' 7th win of the season.

December 23, 2008: TCU 17, Boise State 16-Playing in the Poinsettia for the second time in three years, the Frogs saw the Broncos jump out to an early 10-0 lead, and had their own offensive progress stunted by a Jeremy Kerley interception and a failed fourth-down conversion. Another interception, this one thrown by Dalton, was nearly returned for six but Ryan Christian made a heroic touchdown-saving tackle and Boise was eventually forced to kick a field goal to lead 13-0. Aaron Brown scored on a 16-yard run with :24 remaining in the half to make it 13-7. A Ross Evans field goal made it 13-10 in the 3rd quarter and then Joseph Turner's 17 yard touchdown run gave the Frogs the lead for good early in the 4th. Boise added a field goal to pull within one, but Stephen Hodge, playing the game of his life, intercepted Kellen Moore with just under 2:00 remaining to all but seal it. With the win, the Frogs began their streak of three consecutive years being ranked in the final Top 10.

November 7, 2009: TCU 55, San Diego State 12-The Frogs finally bucked their trend of slow starts at Qualcomm in 2009...a pattern that they'll again hope to change this weekend. They jumped out to a 14-3 lead in the 1st quarter and led 31-6 at halftime. Ryan Christian had his first 100-yard receiving day and nine different Horned Frogs carried the ball as TCU rolled to an easy W.

Terrible fan of the week is a nice thought... but so are these SDSU sloots.

It looks like the general consensus for the (hopefully) temporary Movement Watch stopgap is a roundup of how TCU alums in the NFL fared over the weekend. This will likely become a permanent post, but if TCU manages to climb back into the Top 25, no promises due to time constraints.

There was also the mention of doing terrible fan of the week, which is a fine idea and will happen, but for SDSU I think it's far more valuable to highlight some of the porn stars in training posing as students, as evidenced above. Terrible fan of the week will more than likely be a revamp of the previously abandoned Sour Grapes post, although I'm less than enthusiastic about perusing the message boards for half hearted material. But, if it does happen, I have to imagine it will be ample seeing as how everyone is going to want to take us down this year, and everyone has a chance to based on our defensive play.

But, the NFL post is going to take precedence, so I need a little help remembering who all we have on a current NFL roster. However, I only want to take a look at starters in most cases, so I don't care about practice squad, etc. For instance, Marshall Newhouse got his first start at Tackle for the Packers on Sunday, but when Brian Balurlaudlugaluga is back in the lineup, I have no interest in looking at the Pack each week.

Here's who I can remember off the top of my head. Fill in the gaps for me:

Andy Dalton

Daryl Washington

Jeremy Kerley

LaDainian Tomlinson

David Hawthorne

Drew Coleman

Clint Gresham - only qualifies because Hawthorne starts so it won't be any extra effort.

... and is that it, as far as guys that actually play? Does Colin Jones play on special teams? Did anyone pick up Jimmy Young? Does Indianapolis feel the same way about Jerry Hughes as Cowboys fans felt about Bobby Carpenter?

So, I'm way too sports depressed to do any hate this week, so I took the easy way out and went for a much simpler blog exchange with an SDSU fan site. So, they sent me some questions and I answered. Admittedly, my mindset isn't in any mood to be answering TCU related questions, so it might come off a little depressing, but I gave it my best shot anyway...

1) After perusing your blog, I get the impression that the SMU loss didn't go over so well out in Fort Worth. Especially considering the Mustangs' coach has a girl's name. How many Shiner Bocks has it taken to erase those memories?

A loss to SMU will never go over well in Fort Worth, but I guess it's time to embrace this team for what it is- rebuilding. It just hurts to lose to a team whose coach used to wear Hawaiian leis around his neck until the people in Dallas had to remind him he's not on Meth Island anymore. As for the Shiner Bock reference- I like that you're trying to make reference to a Texas beverage that could have contributed to my blackout that lasted well into this evening, but I think the real culprit is that I was injecting Tito's Vodka directly into my bloodstream for hours postgame.

2) So uh ... what happened to your defense exactly?

Our defense is young, our leading tackler from last year (Tanner Brock) is out all season with a foot injury, and we lost Defensive Andy Dalton in safety and Thorpe award finalist Tejay Johnson. Good news for y'all is that veteran cornerback Greg McCoy is still out there for us, and Ryan Lindley made him his bitch last year. We've got more gaping holes in our defense than Jenna Jameson.

Casey Pachall aka La Manga aka Casey, The Creator aka Professor Chaos has played awesome this year and was the reason we were in the Baylor and SMU games until the bitter end. He's on pace to break school records, and he's doing it while looking like the long lost lovechild of Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love. Seriously, he's no Andy Dalton, who definitely had that fearful ginger demon thing going (he's doing it in the NFL now too), but we've embraced our new sleeve tatted bad ass.

4) I get the impression TCU fans have always looked at SDSU as a gimmie win (not that I blame them). Has that changed at all this year?

I wouldn't say we always saw SDSU as a gimme win, especially not last year, but yes, that has changed greatly this year. I'm pretty much scared shitless out of anyone we play who fields a decent offense, and you just so happen to have an NFL caliber QB. Hell, we just got finished making a mediocre SMU QB look like Aaron Rodgers, so, um, yeah, I'm worried.

5) Admit it: SDSU's near comeback in Fort Worth last year made you pee a little, didn't it?

Yeah, SDSU's comeback made me pee a little, but that's just because I'm usually too lazy to leave my seat to go to the restroom during home games. Honestly I was more worried when it was 14-0 Aztecs than I was when it was 40-35.

6) So what is it like to watch your team win the Rose Bowl? I ask because we'll never know.

I am not married, nor am I anywhere close, but I will tell my future wife and children to their faces that my wedding and their births were less special to me than the Rose Bowl victory.

7) What has it been like enduring these past few weeks of Big East limbo?

I've shut my brain off from this conference realignment bullshit. I don't know how familiar you are with the whole situation being so out of the AQ loop because we are now part of a much more elite group that you are, but pretty much know that we all hate the University of Texas now for putting their fist in college football's ass, and I also look forward to bringing Silly String to DeLoss Dodds's funeral.

8) So, assuming the Big East survives in its current AQ form, have you been practicing arrogant, condescending insults to heap upon non AQ schools? I hear that's how they jump you in over there.

See #7.

9) If the Big East collapses, what are your chances at a Big XII invite?

I hope the two don't go hand in hand, but I think the Big XII invite is coming anyways. That conference has stabilized, but they aren't going to stay with 9. If they're smart, they try to get back to 12 and we would be a logical fit. That being said, the Big XII has done nothing logical in the past couple years. For example, they are the Big XII, but they only have IX. Go figure...

10) Complete this sentence: TCU will end up back in the Mountain West next year if ...

...the Big XII poaches teams from the Big East not named TCU. God please don't let this happen. FML, it's gonna happen. Forget everything I said in #9 now...

11) Well if you do leave, any chance we can stow away in your steamer trunk or something?